People that live or travel
within Washoe ancestral territory know little to nothing about the
past and present of the people and the land. We feel that it is
vitally important for all residents and visitors to understand the
depth of Washoe history as well as the current status of our
sovereign tribal nation. This knowledge will help to form a more
respectful and complete understanding of Lake Tahoe and the area
surrounding it. The Washoe request that you assist in preserving
this environment to benefit future generations.

This webpage summarizes
historical and current information about the tribe. We hope that it
serves as an interesting, informative, and useful welcome to our
ancestral territory.

The Maker of All Things
was counting out seeds that were to become the different tribes. He counted them
out on a big winnowing tray in equal numbers. West Wind, the mischievous wind,
watched until the Maker had divided the seeds into equal piles on the basket.
Then he blew a gust of wind that scattered the seeds to east. Most of the seeds
that were to have been the Washoe people were blown away. That is why the Washoe
are fewer in number than other tribes.” As retold by Jo Ann Nevers

The Washoe are the original inhabitants of Da ow aga
(Lake Tahoe) and all the lands surrounding it. Tahoe is a mispronunciation of
Da ow, meaning “lake”. Washoe ancestral territory consists of a nuclear area
with Lake Tahoe at its heart, and a peripheral area that was frequently shared
with neighboring tribes. The Paiute and Shoshone live to the east and the Maidu
and Miwok to the west. The nucleus of the ancestral territory is bordered on the
west by the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the east by the Pine Nut and Virginia
ranges, and stretch north to Honey Lake and as far south as Sonora Pass. The
territory takes part of two very distinct ecosystems: the western arid Great
Basin region of Nevada, and the forested Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.
The variability in climate, geography, and altitude within the territory allowed
it to provide a great diversity of foods and other materials essential to life.
“As the traditions explain, the Washoe did not travel to this area from another
place. They were here in the beginning and have always lived here…Each cave,
stream, lake or prominent geographical feature is named and has stories
associated to it.” (Nevers, 1976, p. 3)

“

The health of the
land and the health of the people are tied together, and what happens to the
land also happens to the people. When the land suffers so too are the people.” -
A. Brian Wallace, Former Chairman of the Washoe Tribe

“The language, culture and the land cannot be
separated. The language is the identity of the Washoe People.” Steven James,
Tribal Elder

The Washoe language is unique and unrelated to those
spoken by any neighboring tribe. For many years linguists believed Washoe was of
a language group with only this single representative in the world. After
further investigation, the Washoe language is now seen as a distinct branch of
the Hokan language group. Speakers of other Hokan languages are widely dispersed
in North America, and extreme diversity between each Hokan language suggests
many thousands of years in which they developed without contact with each other.
Some people believe that the Hokan speakers are the oldest Californian
populations and that as other peoples invaded the west coast they were dispersed
leaving only isolated groups.

Washoe, or Washo as most of the people prefer, was
derived from Wa she shu. After contact with colonists, many things in Washoe
history have been changed or altered including the tribal name. It is estimated
that the traditional Washoe population was more or less 3,000, but it is
difficult to know.

To understand the Washoe you need to understand the
environment in which they live. Washoe have always been a part of the land and
environment, so every aspect of their lives is influenced by the land. The
Washoe believe the land, language and people are connected and are intrinsically
intertwined.

Family
is the core of the Washoe because these are the people that lived and worked
together and relied on each other. In the past, families are recorded as rarely
fewer than five individuals and only occasionally exceeding twelve in size. A
family was often a married couple and their children, but there were no distinct
rules about how marriages and families should be formed and households were
regularly made up of the parents of a couple, the couple’s siblings and their
children, a couple of the same sex, more than one husband or wife, or non-blood
related friends.

Generally, a family was distinguished by whoever lived
together in the galais dungal (winter house) during the winter months.

Winter camps were usually composed of four to ten
family groups living a short distance from each other in their separate
galais dungal. These family groups often moved together throughout the year.
The Washoe practiced sporadic leadership, so at times each group had an informal
leader that was usually known for his or her wisdom, generosity, and
truthfulness. He or she may possess special powers to dream of when and where
there was a large presence of rabbit, antelope and other game, including the
spawning of the fish, and would assume the role of “Rabbit Boss” or “Antelope
Boss to coordinate and advise communal hunts.

The Washoe were traditionally divided into three
groups, the northerners or Wel mel ti, the Pau wa lu who lived in
the Carson Valley in the east, and the Hung a lel ti who lived in the
south. These three groups each spoke a slightly different yet distinct variant
of the Washoe language. These groups came together throughout the year for
special events and gatherings. Individual families, groups, or regional groups,
came together at certain times to participate

in hunting drives, war, and special ceremonies. During
their yearly gathering at Lake Tahoe, each of the three regional groups camped
at their family campsites at the lake; the northerners on the north shore, the
easterners on the east shore, and so on. A person might switch from the group
that they were born into to a group from another side of the lake. There were
often cross-group marriages, sometimes even between the Paiute and the
California tribes.

This said, it was very advantageous that a person
continued living in the area where she or he grew up because it took an intimate
knowledge of the land to be able to find and harvest all the plant food and
medicines, and to be a successful hunter year after year. After moving to a new
place, even the best gatherer or hunter would know only as much about the place
as a younger more inexperienced person. Gathering and hunting successfully were
as much

about being familiar with the cycles and patterns in
the land as they were about having practiced skills.

It is difficult to separate the sacred from the
everyday life of the Washoe. The Washoe see every aspect of the environment as
sentient beings that are deserving of respect and cooperation if humans are to
survive. The Earth, its terrain, its waters, in short all the living and
nonliving things are considered to be sacred. Traditions and beliefs
described in the past tense in following sections are still widely practiced and
observed by the Washoe today.

An animal was never hunted for “sport” and plants were
never gathered unless they were going to be used. No parts of the animals were
wasted, and enough individuals of a species were always left to reproduce.
Before they hunted, the hunters preformed a sacred ritual. When they killed an
animal, the hunter prayed to the Maker and asked for forgiveness for taking a
life. They thanked the Maker before they ate, and they showed their appreciation
by leaving some food for the Maker. Special celebrations with dance and prayer
offerings were held before the first fish was taken from the annual spawning,
before the annual “rabbit drives”, and at the time of the pine nut harvests.

Washoe healers were women or men that had special
powers to cure illnesses of the body or mind. They were conduits to the
supernatural world. If a person was sick or had feelings like guilt, they could
seek help from healers that would use their powers to ask the Maker and other
spirit beings to cure the ailment. Healers used sacred objects such as eagle
feathers and cocoon rattles to assist in ceremonies. They accompanied the
hunters during communal hunts to provide mystic powers over the prey, and also
went along during warfare to provide healing to injured warriors and use powers
over the enemy. A healer did not choose or inherit his or her position, but was
summoned by a spirit through persistent dreams and eventually cannot ignore
their call to power.

Sometimes powers were used with malicious intent by a
misguided healer, but generally healers were highly regarded in Washoe society.

Elders in the tribe also had special status and wisdom
that they accumulated as they grew older. They were the keepers of the fire, and
they taught the Washoe traditions that they had learned from their grandparents.
For this reason the old ones were treated with great respect. No one ever passed
by an elder without saying something, and during a feast elders are always fed
before anyone else.

Washoe legends tell of several creatures that have
special powers and lived in the Washoe territory. “Water Babies” inhabited all
bodies of water, and are very powerful, sometimes causing illness or death
to a person, but could also be a good omen. Washoe healers visited the sacred
Cave Rock where Water Babies lived, to consult with them, bring offerings of
respect, and to renew powers. There was also a man-eating giant that lived in
another cave near

Cave Rock that preyed on people that were neglecting
their duty.

There was a giant man-eating-bird named Ong
that nested in the middle of Lake Tahoe. Ong was so large and so powerful
that his wing beats could bend the trees when he flew near shore. The legend
tells that one day a Washoe man was snatched up by Ong and taken to his
nest. Luckily, the Washoe was not eaten right away because Ong had
another person to eat. The Washoe watched the giant bird eat and noticed that it
closed its eyes to chew. The Washoe got an idea. Every time the bird closed its
eyes he threw several arrowheads into its open mouth. By nightfall Ong
was very sick. A storm raged through the night, but by morning the monster was
dead. The Washoe plucked out one of its massive feathers and used it as a boat
to reach the shore. The Washoe say that Ong’s nest remains in Lake Tahoe
submerged out of sight.

The event of a birth was cause for celebration.
A child was welcomed to the Washoe world. Female relatives and female friends
attended to the mother. When the baby was born, the parents restrained from
eating meat or salt. The family gave gifts to people in the community. About a
month after the birth the family held a “baby feast”. During this ceremony the
mother bathed herself and had her child’s hair cut. The child was now placed in
a cradleboard where it would rest from now until it was big enough to walk.
Washoe infants were fitted with sage brush bark diapers that were softened by
rubbing between hands and thrown away when soiled. The approved disciplinary
technique for children is described by the Washoe as, “…tell them to behave and
speak kindly to them”.

Any death was very sorrowful and there was a period of
mourning after the burial or cremation. If a person died inside a house the
family would leave the house or burn it and make a new house in a different
place. Female relatives cut their hair to show their grief. All of the person’s
belongings were either burned or buried with them. It was said that a
rainstorm would come soon after a death and wipe away all the tracks to return
everything to the way the Maker intended it to be.

In the past almost all marriages were arranged. Gift
exchanges took place and the engagement would last for a year. During this time
the parents watched the couple very carefully. Several variations of marriage
customs took place. One account is that after the engagement period was over the
parents allowed the couple to live together becoming married. Another account is
of a custom where the couple danced side by side and a rabbit skin blanket was
draped over their shoulders, whereby they became one in marriage. The Washoe
traditionally practiced bilateral descent and bilocal residence, meaning that
there was no set rule or preference about which of the married couple’s family
they would live with. Property was passed down through both the mother and the
father.

One of the most important ceremonies was the “girls
dance”, the celebration of when a girl became a woman. This ceremony is still
practiced today as it has been for thousands of years. Gifts were thrown into
the crowd who attended. At the end of four days of ritual she was recognized as
an adult. Feasting took place.

A boy became a man when he killed his first full-grown
buck. From an early age his father, uncles and grandfather taught him the ways
of hunting. The hunter is required to follow traditions that insure good hunting
and unselfish sharing of the harvest.

Relations with other tribes bordering Washoe territory
were mostly about tolerance and mutual understanding. Sometimes events lead to
tensions and warfare. It was beneficial to both sides to keep their distance,
but they also needed to maintain a relationship to exchange trade goods.
Intermarriages with adjoining tribes occurred when relations were good.

Springtime is the beginning of the yearly cycle. The
final winter months leading up to the first warm days were the most difficult.
During this time the food supplies from last years harvest were dwindling and
the fish, game, and early spring plants were not yet available in large
quantities. For months the Washoe lived off of pine nut flour, seeds, dried
meat, and some fresh fish and meat when available. The first much needed
vegetable harvests in the early spring were of bulb plants and early grasses. As
soon as the weather permitted, the young adults would begin making the trip to
the shores of Da ow aga (Lake Tahoe). Eventually, the majority of the
tribe would make its way to the sacred lake for a large gathering. At these
gatherings people would socialize, play a variety of games, and hold
competitions such as races and archery. At the lake there were several different
types of fish that could be caught and eaten or dried for later use. Increasing
amounts of spring plants were harvested.

In early June, thousands of several different kinds of
fish began to swim out of the deep lake in order to spawn. There were so many
fish that the people waded into the water with baskets and tossed the fish onto
shore to be cleaned, and placed on racks to dry. At the height of the spawning
fishing continued into the night by torchlight. The fires created just enough
light to reflect off the silvery back of the fish so the people could keep
working. The runs lasted for about two weeks, in which large amounts of fish
were eaten and prepared for use later in the year. Large fresh fish were wrapped
in sunflower leaves and placed under the coals and smaller fish were cooked in
coarsely woven baskets with coals or hot rocks. Fish were dried or smoked to
decrease drying time, add flavor and keep insects away. Dried fish was eaten as
a kind of jerky, boiled, or pounded and added to other foods.

Along with the fish, the shores of Lake Tahoe offered
several types of berries, wild rhubarb, cat tail seeds, tiger lily seeds,
sunflower seeds, wild onions, wild mustard, wild spinach, wild potatoes and
sweet potatoes, tule root, wild turnips, wild celery, and countless other edible
and medicinal plants. Many plants became ripe for only a week or a few days, so
accurate information about the location and habits of plants was necessary to
Washoe life. The Washoe

understood the growth cycles of plants, the effects of
weather on growth, and also had intimate knowledge of soils and specific growing
conditions. This type of knowledge was passed from generation to generation
through legends and day-to-day experiences.

Gadu (summer houses) were constructed with
materials that were plentiful in the area where they were built. If the house
was on a river bank then willow might be used. A gadu was often more of a
windbreak than a closed structure. As summer progressed, snow continued to
melt at higher elevations. When the fish runs ended at Lake Tahoe, families
dispersed into the mountain country where there were numerous smaller alpine la
kes. Here, fish andother game such as mountain quail were bountiful for the
time. Fishermen built platforms over the water and used spears made of willow
with bone points, nets or traps made of willow or woven plant fibers, and bone
hooks to catch fish at varying depths in the water. Sometimes temporary damns or
diversions were built to access hidden fish, and when water was low in the fall,
fish could even be caught by hand. The fish remained abundant year after year
because the Washoe were mindful not to deplete the populations or disrupt
nature’s reproductive cycles. They often caught only the male fish and left most
of the females to spawn.

During the fall mountain whitefish started their
spawning and Washoe were able to harvest the fall spawning runs before the deep
snows of winter came. Washoe began to focus on the plant harvesting that would
feed them through the winter months. At this point the families living in the
mountains began to move back down to the valleys east of the Sierras. A few
groups headed west to the Sierra foothills to wait for the ripening of the Black
Oak (Quercus kelloggii) acorns and to trade with the Californian Indians.
They sometimes went as far as the Pacific Ocean to collect shells. Some of these
families would not return to the east side before the snow, and would either
winter alone or join a Miwok village for the season. The families that had
descended to the Great Basin now began gathering and saving grass seeds as the
plants gradually ripened.

The culmination of the gathering season was the tah
gum (Piñon Pine nut, Pinus monophylla ) harvest. When the nuts were
ripe, all the people were called for a special ceremony, called the goom sa
bye. A runner was sent with a knotted buckskin rope to all the separate
camps. Each knot represented one day, the number of knots meant there were that
many days until the ceremony would begin. People congregated at the pine trees
and the celebration lasted for four or five days. They prayed and gave thanks to
the Maker, danced, and shared large amounts of food with each other. Usually the
harvest lasted for a month to six weeks. A long pole with a curved tip was used
to knock down the cones, that were then carried in burden baskets back to the
camp where they were prepared for storage for the winter.

Pine nuts and acorns were stored for the winter in
caves, rock structures, and pits lined with stones or grass. Pine nuts were
roasted so that their sweet oily flesh would not become rancid. Acorns
were sprinkled with water so that their outer shells could be removed and their
insides were dried in the sun. Shelled pine nuts, the dried acorns, and other
seeds were pounded into fine flours using mortars and pestles. The acorn flour
was leached of its tannins and bitter taste. The flours could be made into mush
or soup, and biscuits were made by dipping cooked flour into cold water.

Fall was also time for the best hunting because the
animals were healthy and fattened from the plentiful summer. A large variety of
game animals were found in Washoe territory, including: rabbits, squirrels,
marmots, sagehens, quail, waterfowl, deer, antelope and big horn sheep. Small
mammals were hunted with dogs, traditionally the Washoe’s only domestic animal.
Just after the pine nut harvests it was time for the rabbit drives. The Washoe
would gather in the flatlands east of the Sierra for a special rabbit ceremony
where they prayed and danced to thank the Maker for food and a plentiful supply
of rabbits. Hundreds of rabbits were herded by a long line of people walking in
one direction. A tall net woven from the fibers of sage brush (Artemisia
tridentata) and Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) formed a blockade
that the fleeing rabbits became entangled in. People would wait behind the net,
to untangle the rabbits and club them. Every family owned an individual net and
several nets were combined for the drive. There were always enough rabbits
for all of the people. Some rabbit were purposefully left in the nets and
under bushes for the old or the ill.

The rabbit meat was roasted, boiled and eaten in great
quantities and also dried on racks to be saved for the winter. No parts of the
rabbits were wasted. In the winter dried meat would be ground and added to nut
or seed flour to make soup or mush. The skins were also a very important
resource for the Washoe. The fresh pelts were cut into stripes and woven
together on a frame. They made large rabbit skin blankets that doubled as both
bedding and a cloak against the cold of the winter. Another important source of
meat and skins was the Mule Deer. Washoe hunters would either set up blinds near
a watering hole, or would employ several stalking methods that sometimes
involved imitating animal sounds such as the cry of a faun in distress, or
wearing a disguise of a

stuffed deer head with the skin attached and draped
over the shoulders. The hunters used bows strengthened with sinew, and arrows
made from straight branches of the wild rose bush with obsidian points.

If there were enough deer in an area, sometimes “deer
drives” were employed in a similar manner as “rabbit drives” with a few of the
best hunters waiting at the end rather than a net. Antelope was also hunted in
this manner, but with a large corral built to hold several animals. A large herd
could be trapped to feed many people. There were special ceremonies to thank the
Maker before the first antelope from the corral was killed. The hunter that
climbed the high mountains to kill a big horn sheep was revered as a good hunter
because they are difficult animals to hunt. Grasshoppers were gathered early in
the mornings while the insects were still slow from the cold night. They were
roasted and eaten as a crunchy treat. Several other insect foods were eaten when
available such as caterpillars, bee larvae, and honey.

In the winter little food could be gathered and the
Washoe ate mostly what they had stored earlier in the year. Sometimes ice on
lakes or streams would be broken and fish could be caught with a bone hook.
Galais dungal (winter houses) took considerably longer to build than the
summer house. Winter houses were conical shaped. They contained a sturdy frame
in which several layers of bark, poles and brush created insulation from the
cold. A fire was built inside in a pit enclosed with rocks in the center of the
house. A hole was left in the roof for the smoke to escape. A large pile of fire
wood, sometimes taller than the house itself, was gathered and stacked next to
the dwelling. The door always faced to the east to receive the first light of
the day. Winter camps were often located close to one of the many hot springs
that occur in a chain on the east side of the Sierra Mountains.

During the long winter months the Washoe would sit
around the fire and tell stories and pass on knowledge and traditions. Winter
was a time for building and repairing tools such as hunting and fishing devices
and clothing. The Washoe wove several types of baskets. Throughout the
year they gathered the materials that they needed and stored them in coils. Some
baskets were tightly woven for cooking or holding water. Others were loosely
woven and used

for sifting seeds and nuts. Burden baskets had a
moderately tight weave and were in a conical shape. Some baskets were specially
made for holding

babies.

Himu (willow) was the main material used in
basketry. Fern roots soaked in dark mud were used for creating dark patterns,
and red bud was collected to make red patterns. A thin piece of bone was used to
puncture the holes during the weaving process. Each basket maker created the
unique designs woven into their baskets. Some designs were passed from
generation to generation and held symbols of traditional stories. Others were
unique to

each basket maker and could not be copied.

Washoe clothing was mostly made of buckskin. They wore
moccasins or sandals. In the winter they kept warm with a rabbit skin blanket
and snowshoes so as not to sink into deep snow. The Washoe tattooed themselves
with familial marks on their faces and arms using acorn juice and burnt rabbit
brush mixed with water.

The Washoe had heard about the new
intruders before they ever saw one. As the Spanish invaded the California coast
to establish missions and convert Indians to Catholicism, the Washoe began to
make fewer and fewer trips to the west coast until eventually those trips
stopped altogether.

Neighboring tribes that escaped into
hiding in the high mountains probably warned the Washoe about the invaders.

Although White historians have concluded
that the Spanish never entered Washoe territory, the Washoe have told stories
about them for generations, and some Washoe words, including names for
relatively new additions to the Washoe world, like horse, cow, and money, are
similar to the Spanish terms.

In any case, when the first white fur
traders and surveyors began to enter Washoe territory the Indians approached the
newcomers with caution. They preferred to observe the intruders from a distance.
The first written record of non-Indians in Washoe Land were fur trappers in
1826; they may have met the Washoe, but left no description of the encounter.
The first written description of the Washoe was by John Charles Fremont in 1844,
who was leading a government surveying expedition. Fremont described the Washoe
as being cautious of being close to them, but in time when he showed no
aggression, the

aggressively defensive tribes of the Great Plains and
saw no distinction between different tribes. They expected the Washoe to be
violent and dangerous and projected these characteristics upon them.

Map of Historic Washoe Trade Routes

In 1859, Indian agent Frederick Dodge suggested
removing the Washoe to two reservations, one at Pyramid Lake, and another at
Walker Lake.

Because the reservations were intended to be shared by
the Washoe and the Paiute, it soon became apparent that this was impossible.

Not only did the two tribes speak entirely different
languages, but historically they had not always been friendly and trouble would
no doubt arise if they were forced to live in close quarters.

Furthermore, the Washoe intended to live on the land
where the Maker had created them, and they resisted all attempts to be
relocated.

Numerous formal requests from Indian agents were made
for a separate reservation for the Washoe, but the government ignored them all.

By 1865, there were no stretches of unoccupied
land large enough within traditional Washoe territory to form one reservation,
so an agent made a recommendation that two separate 360 acre parcels be set
aside for the Washoe.

Captain Pete

The following year in 1866, a new agent destroyed any
hope of this happening when he sent a letter to his authorities that stated,
“There is no suitable place for a reservation in the bounds of their territory,
and, in view of their rapidly diminishing numbers and the diseases to which they
are subjected, none is required.” (Nevers, 1976, p. 54) This man wrongly
believed that in time the Washoe would disappear.

Between 1871 and 1877 several more requests for a
reservation for the Washoe were made by agents, but again they were not heard.
The government made no attempt to secure rights for the Washoe or to stop the
destruction of the lands by the colonial culture.

Settler’s livestock grazed the land intensely and
grasses that had once provided the Washoe with seed were trampled and eaten.
Commercial fishing was practiced on every stream and lake in the area and it was
not long before the fish were depleted. At the height of the fishing, 70,000
pounds of fish were being sent from Lake Tahoe to Reno, Carson City, and
Virginia City. There were severalattempts
by the colonizers to stop the Washoe from fishing, but the Indians banded
together and restrictions were relaxed. Even so, there were no longer enough
fish for the Washoe to subsist on. Sage hens that used to “cover the hills like
snow” were killed off by sport hunting as well.

In 1846, the Washoe noticed the famed Donner party
wagon train because they had never seen wagons before. The Washoe describe
seeing the wagons and wondering if they were a “monster snake”. In route to
California, the Donner party reached the Sierras late in the year and got
trapped in snow for a particularly harsh winter. The Washoe checked in with the
stranded travelers a few times and brought them food when they could. Even so,
in the face of

suffering and starvation, the Donner Party resorted to
cannibalism. When the Washoe witnessed them eating each other they were shocked
and frightened. Although the Washoe faced hard times every winter and death by
starvation sometimes occurred, they were never cannibalistic. Stories about the
situation, some gruesome and some sympathetic, were told for many generations
and are said to add to the general mistrust of the white people.

In 1848, gold was “discovered” in California, and
although until then most of the Washoe had never seen white people, or had
previously avoided them, this soon became impossible. The wagon trains came by
the hundreds, and because most of the wagon trails had previously been Indian
trails, encounters were numerous. Most of the new people were just passing
through, but by 1849 several began to establish seasonal trading posts in Washoe
territory. By 1851, year-round trading posts were established, and colonizers
became permanent residents on Washoe land. The settlers often chose to live on
some of the most fertile gathering areas that the Washoe depended on. A
few years after gold was found in California, silver was “discovered” in the
Great Basin and the “Comstock Bonanza” lured many miners that had passed through
back into Washoe territory. The Euro-American perspective viewed land and
its resources as objects of frontier opportunity and exploitation. In a short
time the colonizers had overused the pine nuts, seeds, game and fish that the
Washoe had lived harmoniously with for thousands of years. By 1851, Indian Agent
Jacob Holeman recommended that the government sign a treaty with the Washoe and
wrote, “…the Indians having been driven from their lands, and their hunting
ground destroyed without compensation therefore – they are in many instances
reduced to a state of suffering bordering on starvation.” (Nevers, 1976,
p. 49)

All this happened in less than ten years after Fremont
had passed through Washoe territory. Settlers and miners cut down trees,
including the sacred Piñon Pine to build buildings, support mine shafts, and
even burn as fuel. The Piñon Pine woodlands that had once provided the Washoe,
other tribes, and all the animals with more than enough nuts became barren
hillsides.

Although most of their traditional resources were
destroyed in a short time, the Washoe were used to adapting to what their
environment provided for them so they began to change under the pressures of
colonization. Many settled near white towns and took jobs on ranches and in
white homes to make some money. Some hunted and fished and sold their catch to
fancy restaurants. They began to wear white people’s clothes. Women wore long
dresses, aprons,

shawls, and head scarves. Men wore brightly colored
shirts and jeans. They continued gathering together to speak their language,
play games, and observe sacred ceremonies like those of the pine nut harvest,
rabbit drives, and girls dance.

During these difficult years of transition, several
Washoe leaders emerged to speak in behalf of the tribe. In April of 1880,
Captain Jim, Captain Pete, and Captain Walker called a meeting to prepare a
petition to the government asking it to stop the destruction of the land. The
petition described that the Washoe depended on game, fish, and pine nuts in the
area that were now settled by colonizers, and that this meant that the Washoe
were now dependent on the charity of colonizers for subsistence. They demanded
that the destruction of Washoe property be stopped, and that suitable
compensation be made for the

damages already done. A month later, another petition
signed by ninety-three Douglas County residents asked the government to, “take
provision for their general welfare” because, “…the Washoe tribe have always
been reasonable and quiet, never molesting the white people except for the
applications of food since their subsistence is destroyed.” (Nevers, 1976, p.
57) As described by historian L. Bravo (1991), “White observers have frequently
criticized

the Indians both for asking, which they called
begging, and for not growing their own food. But to ask of the person who had
something to share it, was a universal Indian custom. Furthermore, the food was
being produced on land which, in the Washoe mind, was theirs to use, therefore
giving them every right to share in it. As for growing gardens, the Washoe were
still basically hunters and gatherers and the mobility required for these
pursuits conflicts with the continuous care needed for gardening.” (p. 11)

In
April 1892, with help from donations made by settlers that resided in Carson
Valley, Captain Jim and Dick Bender (serving as a translator), went to
Washington to deliver another petition, along with letters to the president and
the congressmen of California and Nevada, and a petition signed by 33 pupils
from the Indian school praying that the Great Father (President Harrison) will
consider the matter well. After spending thirteen days in the capital, and
reportedly having spoken with the president, the men returned home
believing that their requests would be heard. A short time later, they were
disappointed to learn what the government had decided. They were offered some
land in Humboldt Valley, which is in Paiute territory, and were given $1,000
dollars to be distributed by the Superintendent of the Indian school to the
“old, feeble, and infirm”. The Washoe did not want to move to Paiute territory,
and it is reported that they received little if any of the $1,000 dollars. In
1914, the Washoe sent another petition to the President; this one was
accompanied by a special basket.

Captain James and his daughter Sara took the special
basket to the White House accompanied by a petition asking for the protection of
Washoe territory. 1914. The basket and petition were never acknowledged or
returned.

Act of 1887 each individual Washoe
finally did begin to receive some land, but it was not until 1893 that
allotments were made to the Washoe, and most of the land proved to be virtually
worthless. The Washoe claimed the pine nut hills and the area around Lake Tahoe
as their ancestral homeland, but because the foreigners had already settled in
great numbers around the lake, they were offered the simple choice to accept the
pine nut allotments or take nothing at all. Although none of the sites were
suitable for homes and few had water rights, the Washoe took them because the
sites had the sacred Piñon Pines that still provided the food that sustained the
Washoe through winter.

Some Washoe received allotment lands in
California, in Alpine County and in the north around the Sierra Valley and
Doyle. Although allotments were legally supposed to be 160 acres, some that the
Washoe received were only 120 because settlers already claimed to own adjacent
springs and other water rights. The government appointed a special allotting
agent that did not even inspect the allotments.

Sections of land were given out directly
from the office, and it turned out that most of the lots did not have mature
trees on them or were completely without trees because they had recently been
used for timber.

The borders of these allotments were not
clearly marked, and even when they were the Washoe continued to have problems
with colonizers that frequently disregarded boundaries. Reports that whites were
trying to gain control over Washoe timber and were illegally using the land to
graze their animals were made by Indian Agents to the government several times,
but the problem continued even after laws were passed against it.

The Stewart Indian School opened in 1890 and occupied
240 acres south of Carson City. Washoe, Paiute, and Shoshone children were
forced to attend. Euro-American culture was taught to the children, who spent
half of the day in the classroom learning English and mathematics, and the rest
of the day receiving vocational training that often involved nothing more than
doing work that needed to maintain the school. Since the Indian boarding schools
were under control of the War Department, the schools were run in a strict
military style and focused on assimilation. Children as young as five years old
were often rounded up and taken from their families while neither the children
nor the parents knew what was happening. When they arrived at the school they
were forced to wear a uniform and to cut their hair. They were punished if they
spoke their own languages. The children had a difficult time adjusting to the
new strict environment and tried to run away.

They were almost always caught and brought back.
Parents objected to having their children go to the schools because they often
became out of touch with their own culture and many of them never came home at
all. There were high death rates at the schools due to epidemics of diseases
such as influenza, small pox and cholera. Nearly all of the children reported
suffering various amounts of psychological, physical and sexual abuse.

In later years the school was reported to have
improved. Girls learned how to be a woman in white society and were trained in
“home economics” and nursing. Boys were trained in vocations usually designated
for working class white men like plumbing, carpentry, mechanics, and electrical
work. Many graduates of the Stewart Indian School continued their education at
other institutions, and several became prominent citizens in their communities
by

During the late 19th century the
Washoe became famous for their skills in basketry. Colonizers saw the intricate
tightly woven baskets that had previously been used for cooking or holding
water, and began valuing them as a high form of art. Several Washoe women
emerged as outstanding basket makers, including Maggie Mayo James, Tillie Snooks,
Lena Frank and perhaps the most famous being Dat So La Lee.

Dat So La Lee was born in 1835, and may have met
Fremont when he first passed through Washoe land in 1844. In 1871, she met Abram
Cohn, a shopkeeper who she approached with a small basket for sale. He and his
wife Amy recognized that she was highly skilled and decided to build a house for
her and support her so that she could concentrate on making baskets. They worked
out a deal that she would make baskets only for them, and for this reason no
tribal member possesses one of her baskets today. In 1919 Cohn took Dat So La
Lee on several trips to show her work and make her famous. She did not enjoy
these expositions of her techniques because it is Washoetradition to only teach members of your family. In modern times her
baskets have been priced at $1,000,000.

During her lifetime they sold for thousands, also a
high sum by the standard of the time. Samples of her work can be seen at the
Smithsonian, Nevada State Historical Society Museum in Reno, the Nevada State
Museum in Carson City, and the Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum in Tahoe
City, among others.

It took many years before the Washoe were considered
citizens under law. This officially happened in 1924 when all Native Americans
in the United States pledged their allegiance to the US government. Before then
Indians were expected to show their allegiance to the country by fighting in the
First World War. Even though they had no homes and no reservation, and were
denied many other conveniences of citizenship, Indians were expected to fight in
the US army. An Indian Agent wrote to the Washoe saying that Indians that did
not fight were “pro-German”. Justifiably, many Washoe did not want to fight, but
some did

Despite some local opposition, land was finally
purchased for the Washoe in 1917. Two tracts of land were purchased near Carson
City that totaled 156.33 acres. This became Carson Indian Community. Shortly
after this purchase the government received 40 acres of land south of
Gardnerville from the Dressler family, to indefinitely be held in trust for the
Washoe, now known as the Dresslerville Community. An additional 20 acres were
acquired for the Washoe and Northern Paiute families who lived in Reno called
the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. Most of the lands purchased for the Washoe were
rocky and had poor soil, but the people moved onto these areas and built the
best homes that they could. Many were one room shacks without electricity and
running water. Eventually, the government built larger four-room houses.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act, between 1938 and
1940, the Washoe acquired 95 acres in the Carson Valley that became known as
Washoe Ranch. Finally the Washoe had agricultural land where they could raise
animals and food.

In 1951 the Washoe filed a claim to the Indian Claims
Commission for their lands and resources that had been lost. The legal
proceedings lasted nearly twenty years, and the Washoe received their claim only
in 1970. The government had significantly reduced the area that the Washoe had
designated as their ancestral homeland, and so the final settlement was five
million dollars, which “scarcely constitutes even a token compensation for the
appropriation

of an ancient territory and its resources which today
comprise one of the richest and most attractive areas in the American West.” (Nevers,
1976, p. 91)

Also in 1970, a special act of congress granted 80
acres in Alpine County, California to Washoe that had lived there for many
years. This is now known as the Woodfords Community. In more recent years the
tribe has been acquiring lands within their ancestral territory including, Frank
Parcel, Lady’s Canyon, Babbit Peak, Uhalde Parcel, Wade Parcels, Olympic Valley,
Incline Parcel, Upper and Lower Clear Creek Parcels. Some of the lands have been
set aside as conservation and cultural lands for the Washoe People.

After settling on their newly returned land, the
Washoe found it difficult to adapt to reservation life. They were traditionally
a free roaming people that were now restricted and confined to boundaries and
were under constant monitoring by Indian Agents that pressured them to renounce
their ancient customs in favor of colonial ways of living. The superintendent of
the Reno Agency attacked several traditional practices, including the girl’s
passage to womanhood. Ironically the practices that he targeted as “heathen” and
“immoral” like giving gifts were similarly practiced at Euro-American birthdays
and marriages.

Another superintendent announced that traditional
games that involved exchanging money were not permitted on government lands or
Indian reservations, but he made no proclamations prohibiting similar games
played by colonizers such as poker. Government officials went as far as to
prohibit the use of traditional Washoe medicine.

In 1936, a new native religion called Peyotism, now
known as the Native American Church, helped some Washoe cope with the changes
brought by the settlers. A man by the name of Ben Lancaster, who was half
Washoe, brought peyotism to Washoe Country. The religion encouraged charity and
honesty and prohibited drinking of alcoholic beverages. Although peyotism is no
longer widely accepted, numerous tribal members continue to practice the

Since
the beginning of history, De ek Wadapush “rock standing grey” (Cave
Rock), a prominent physical feature on the shore of Lake Tahoe, has been revered
as a sacred place to be respected and avoided by all people except for Washoe
healers seeking spiritual renewal. It is believed that Cave Rock is also an
important place for the “Water Babies”, so it is a place that can not be
tampered with without experiencing retaliation from the powerful creatures.

The Washoe were highly disturbed and saddened by the
construction of a tunnel going through Cave Rock using dynamite blasts in 1931.
They likened it to entering a Christian Church and bombing it, but most
non-Indian people didn’t understand the similarities. In 1951 a second tunnel
was blasted. During both phases of construction flooding occurred in the Carson
Valley that was attributed to angered Water Babies.

Thankfully, another project that was proposed during
the building of the second tunnel was never realized. Local Pastors had began
initiating plans and acquiring funds to build a “Cave Rock Shrine” that
consisted of an illuminated cross at the apex of the rock that would be seen
from any point on the lake’s shore, and a “natural amphitheater” carved into the
concave of the rock. The Washoe wrote several petitions to stop the project and
to have the rock

dedicated to the Indian peoples of the state of Nevada
instead. It is unclear how the project was stopped, but it seems that the church
allocated funds to other causes. Cave Rock came under increasing threat in the
1990’s when rock-climbing enthusiasts began frequenting it as a highly desired
climbing site. Regardless of the Washoe’s protest, climbers defaced the rock
with bolts and other climbing implements, graffiti, and even filled in the
cave’s floor with cement.

The Washoe wrote petitions to have the climbing
stopped. Despite strong opposition by the climbing community, the US Forest
Service held up a ban on climbing at Cave Rock in 2008. Remediation efforts are
under way to repair Cave Rock. The site has enjoyed more respect and protection
since its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and its
designation as “Traditonal Cultural Property”.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the
Washoe began to form a tribal government. They called themselves the Washoe
Tribe of Nevada and California and adopted a constitution and laws. In 1937 they
were issued a corporate charter and recognized as a formally organized tribe.

In 1966 the Washoe organized a tribal council. The
nine member council is made up of two members from Carson, Stewart,
Dresslerville, and Woodfords communities, one from the Reno-Sparks Colony, and
two off-reservation delegates. In 1990 the council was extended to twelve
members to include the newly added Stewart Community. To officially be
considered a Washoe tribal member the blood quantum is one-quarter. There are
approximately 1,550 official tribal members. One third of tribal members reside
off reservation, a large population within their ancestral territory, and
another in the San Francisco Bay area.

The tribe has several programs that encourage the
preservation of Washoe culture and traditions including: social services,
education, senior centers and more. Washiw Wagayay Maŋal
(The Washoe Language Program) teaches classes in Washoe three times a week and
hosts several other events. Classes are open to people of all ages. There are
four Head-start schools for Washoe and non-Washoe children ages 3-5 that teach
basic Washoe words and promote social and emotional growth. The Education
Department works together with public schools and offers scholarships to Washoe
students.

Combining traditional and modern conservation
practices, the Environmental Protection Department has nearly twenty separate
restoration and conservation projects throughout Washoe ancestral territory at
any given time.

One example is the restoration of riparian areas and
the reintroduction of the native Lahontan Cutthroat Trout that disappeared from
the regions waters after over harvesting by colonizers.

Over the years the Washoe have organized groups that
promote traditional well being, respect, and generosity in the people including,
the Washoe Warrior Society, White Bison Society, Culture Camp and Tribal
Government groups like Project Venture.

As a way of further promoting Washoe culture, the
Tribal Government has enacted laws that allow special hunting and fishing
privileges to people that are making and using traditional hunting and fishing
devises.

(TANF) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is a
Washoe program headquartered in Gardnerville. It provides service to 12 counties
in California and 2 counties in Nevada. One of the services they provide is a
Prevention Plan that includes bringing cultural activities and education to the
communities.

(THPO) Tribal Historic Preservation Office and (CRO)
Cultural Resources Office are the tribal equivalents to the State Historic
Preservation Offices. Their mission is to protect, preserve and promote Washoe
Culture. The THPO has jurisdiction over all Washoe Tribally owned lands and is
involved with federal, state, and local agencies in the protection of over
10,000 square miles of ancestral territory that covers two states; nine
counties, six national forests and four BLM districts.

The Washoe health clinic offers medical, dental and
behavioral services and the Washoe Police have jurisdiction over all Washoe
Tribally owned lands.

A special thanks to Lissa Guimarães Dodds, without her
interest in the Washoe Tribe this presentation would not have been possible. She
wrote and compiled a booklet as part of her senior thesis project. At the time
of its publication Lissa was attending the University of California Santa Cruz
as a student of Intercultural Ecology.

Thanks to Washoe Tribal Member Darrel Cruz of the
Cultural Preservation Office for all his time, effort, and commitment to this
project.

Thank you to Washoe Tribal Member Lynda Shoshone for
all her support and the translations into the Washoe language.

Thank you to Washoe Tribal Member JoAnn Nevers, author
of WA SHE SHU: A Washoe Tribal History, for providing information and direction.